11 Answers
11

To employers, they can be beneficial as they may need more certified people in order to maintain their Gold Partner status within specific competencies.

As for a personal level, it won't have much clout if you don't have the work experience behind it, but if it's all you have (ie: little or no experience) then it can show employers you are keen and passionate for the platform, and will appeal to employers looking to hire a junior.

Probably the biggest point that isn’t
always well understood, besides
getting used to the fact that the old
“levels” no longer apply, is that the
new Gold competencies will require 4
unique MCPs. This means if you want
to have 2 Gold competencies, you will
need at least 8 MCPs (4 each with the
appropriate certs for the respective
competencies) – this is a major change
as you likely know. You cannot
“double book” MCPs on multiple Gold
competencies.

So it makes you more valuable if you have certs the company needs. Here is the stream for SharePoint:

To be honest; certifications have never made me get a job or a new client. But it sure helps your partner status for your company, as djeeg explains. The best way to show off your skills is well documented cases and references!

Currently the certifications are quite easy to get through, with a high score, even if you're not that experienced. One good thing though, is that questions on topics that you're not that familiar with will pop up - and if you're smart you digest that and learn those areas.

Having the certifications listed on your CV/LinkedIn account will also give you masses of recruiter e-mails :-)

Regarding the SharePoint Microsoft Certified Master, which is a 3 week training and a couple of exams/labs. That's a totally different deal. It costs you tons of money and gives you the best SharePoint training you can get. You can't expect to do the MCM with mediocre skills - you already need to be a really highly skilled dev/it-pro/architect. unfortunately - clients are currently not that aware of this certification. So consider it very carefully, so it's really worth it.

No, you get nothing from Microsoft as an MCM in terms of leads or recommendations... Unless you work for Microsoft - most MCMs do. If you get MCM you are pretty much on your own to make it worth your while :)
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Chris BeckettApr 11 '11 at 5:44

Speaking from experience as an IT consultant, yes they are worthwhile.

Your consulting organization (or yourself?) gets points towards being a Microsoft Partner (or even Microsoft Gold Partner) which gets them all sorts of free Microsoft goodies, so there's an incentive for certification right there.

My past employer was a Gold Partner, and as a result, they needed a certain number of points from certified people (MCP counted as 1, MCPD counted as 3, I think the MCM was 8). The new program requires 2 or 4 certified people per competency, and each competency lists what certifications are required.

I have never seen a case where they were not valuable. I guess it depends on what your objectives are. If you are a consultant, speaker, author, or job-seeker, certifications add credibility. In addition to being required for the partner competencies that some of the others mentioned, certifications are also required to be a SharePoint Deployment Planning Services partner. And if none of that is important to you, then you will still learn by going through the process.

If you don't already have deep knowledge then I think the exercise of studying for the exams is worthwhile, provided its studying the topics and not just studying the practice exams. You won't get anywhere near 100% SharePoint knowledge but you'll be better off than before.. Of course this depends on the depth of your experience to date, the more you have, the less helpful the certification will be in broadening your knowledge.

As ever in IT, experience is most valuable, along with your attitude and approach to problem solving. However, these certifications will show potential employers that you have the professionalism and discipline required to study and pass exams, as well as the associated knowledge.

If you're happy in your current job, I would put more time in to gaining experience by building solutions that solve problems.

While it's definitely worth something personally for you, since it improves your marketability as a developer/IT professional, most of the emphasis in Microsoft SharePoint Certification and Microsoft's certification program in general is geared towards the the IT and software companies.

Certifications will definitely improve your credibility and shows your employer that you are serious about your career in SharePoint. Some companies are also willing to sponsor for your exams and sometimes it mutual that the company also benefits from it. My previous employer used to give me $500 if I pass SharePoint certification :). It's a win-win.

My feedback is it's always better to have certifications as part of your profile. It will help both you and your company for winning new business. There are lot of customers who ask for certified people before awarding the project.

It is also fun to take a certification (not going through a bump) because it will check your strength on how you can pick the right solution without the help of Google. :)